“I could go on and on about how amazing my experience was,'' said Sarah Moyer of giving birth to her her son at home.

For Sarah Moyer, there’s no place like home, especially when it comes to giving birth.

“I wanted to be in my own environment,” said Moyer, 27, who gave birth to her son Jeremiah in early June in her North Londonderry Township, Lebanon County, home with the assistance of a midwife. “I think people are fearful of birth because it has become so managed and regulated so the thought of giving birth naturally, let alone at home, is completely foreign. But sometimes, without tinkering with things, you have a better outcome.”

Moyer had her first child, a daughter who is now 16 months old, at the hospital. While everything turned out fine after her 17-hour labor, she knew she wanted something different the second time around.

“With my daughter, I was induced and they broke my water. I ended up doing the rest of it on my own,” she said. “Women have been giving birth for thousands of years without so much fiddling with the natural process.”

It took a little convincing for her husband, Eric, to go along with the idea, she said, mainly because it may not be covered by insurance. Fees for home birth vary according to how many prenatal and postnatal visits are offered, whether a birthing tub is rented and other considerations.

“It was worth the money to me to be at home and have the birth I wanted to have,” said Moyer, who gave birth in the warm, soothing water of a birthing tub, which, she said, was a huge pain management tool. “I could go on and on about how amazing my experience was, from early labor, to pushing, to the newborn exam and care, to being able to sleep in my own house with my baby when he was only a few hours old.”

Home births all individual

Home births allow for each woman to experience labor the way her own body is wired to do it, whether it takes one hour or five hours to dilate a centimeter, said South Middleton Township resident Steph Landis Bernholz, who had all three of her children at home, including a set of twins.

“I had an amazing first birth at home with my doula and I wanted to offer other women that same experience,” said Bernholz, 33, who is a doula, training to become a midwife. “Women are so disempowered in so many aspects of our society. Empowering women in birth feels really good for me,” she said.

A doula helps women during labor and delivery, pampering them with things like massages, deep breathing exercises, aromatherapy and snacks. The doula also helps the new mom with breastfeeding and makes a postpartum visit to see how things are going.

In the U.S., approximately 25,000 births per year occur at home, with about a quarter of those being unplanned home births.

Complications can arise

Women embrace home births because they say it allows them to deliver their baby at their own pace, as a natural process.

A common apprehension for some couples considering a home birth, however, is what happens if complications arise. This is a concern shared by many in the mainstream medical community.

“Even women at low risk of complications can develop unexpected problems very quickly,” said Dr. Anne Marie Manning, an obstetrician and gynecologist with Center for Holy Spirit’s Center for Women’s Health in Camp Hill. “You can often see problems developing, but not always. Because of the difficulty in getting appropriate and timely response to problems, we counsel against home births.”

Midwives and home birth educators, however, say the goal is always safety and there are warning signs of complications in most cases.

“As long as you’re birthing with a midwife, their goal is to have a healthy baby. If there are any indications that something isn’t going well, they will send you to the hospital,” Bernholz said.

Of the 270 home births she has attended, Bernholz said only three or four women needed to be taken to the hospital and all had happy, healthy outcomes.

Midwives monitor the baby’s heart rate and mother’s blood pressure and are trained in neonatal resuscitation said Holly Keich, owner of OM Baby Pregnancy and Parenting Center in Camp Hill, where she presents question-and-answer programs for parents interested in home births.

“In the unlikely event of a baby being born with, for example, a breathing problem, your midwife will have brought with her oxygen and resuscitation equipment and, if necessary, can call on a paramedic and ambulance,” Keich said.

For women who want less medical intervention, Manning said it is very possible to find a doctor who is on board with a more hands-off birthing experience within the safety of a hospital setting.

“Be very open and honest with your caregivers early in your pregnancy and if your provider isn’t willing to work with you, there will be time to find someone who is,” she said.

The Center for Women’s Health has four certified nurse-midwives who see patients in the office prior to delivery and who deliver at the hospital, she said. A doctor is always available on site or on immediate call if the need arises.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises that the following be available to women who plan to deliver at home: A certified nurse-midwife, certified midwife or physician; ready access to consultation; and the possibility of timely transport to a nearby hospital.

Home births popular here

In the midstate, women often look for midwives whose good reputation is spread through word of mouth by happy moms who gave birth at home, said Keich, who had her second child at home.

“This is probably a good area to be in if you want to have a home birth because of the many Amish and Mennonite women here who have home births,” she said.

There are different types of midwives. Certified nurse-midwives are registered nurses before they study midwifery. Certified professional midwives meet standards for certification set by the North American Registry of Midwives. A “direct entry” midwife enters directly into a midwifery practice without a prior professional credential and is apprentice-trained extensively with an experienced midwife, sometimes with education from a midwifery school.

Husbands get involved

Another reason couples favor home births is because they can help husbands feel more a part of the birth experience.

“I might have been more apt to stand back around the medical staff at a hospital,” said Marcus Bernholz, 37, who got into the birthing tub with his wife and said he found the experience “very peaceful and connecting.”

He went to every midwife visit prior to the birth and felt confident that if anything went wrong, they would have enough time to get to a hospital, he said.

“The biggest appeal to home birth is that direct relationship you build with the person who is going to be helping you. You really develop a trust with her; a very special bond,’” said Steph Landis Bernholz, who offers photography of the moms and babies she works with. “I’ll take a picture of the mom holding her newborn baby and she has a beaming smile that says, ‘I did that.’ That’s why I do what I do.”